Oscar Pareja post-game quotes

Some very interesting stuff from FC Dallas Juniors head coach Oscar Pareja after his team's 2-1 defeat to CF Monterrey tonight.

Oscar Pareja:

I didn’t like the first half, we came a little bit flat. Still the tournament for me is one of those experiences for some of the boys, many of them are for the first time playing against probably one of the biggest clubs in the world in Chelsea’s case or Monterrey one of the biggest programs in Mexico that has that prestige. So that impact they didn’t absorb it quickly and it was hard to digest. Once they went on the pitch and said ‘well you know what we can do this too, we’re this good, then they start reacting. And then against Chelsea it was way late but today it was good timing and they got the game back. I think today was a good performance I’m very very pleased with it. I think we competed against them under the same conditions and I’m very proud of it. I think it was a great second half and I said to the boys the second half, for me, if I play any game or lose any game the way I played in the second half I don’t care.

What did you see about the penalty kick?

I didn’t see any PK. I still think that department has to be improved. The quality wasn’t good from the guys in yellow but there’s nothing you can do from the bench when they call the PK. It’s difficult to change it but it definitely wasn’t a PK.

Since they went down 3-0 to Chelsea it seems the team has rebounded and gained confidence, where did that confidence come from?

It is the lack of meaningful games that we need for our elite players. These two games are just the proof of it. We have many games but not meaningful games…Games that mean something for real, not just a tournament or championship but the games where they get exposed to people and the media. They have to do it because they have to prove that they’re good enough to go to the next level. So we’re lacking of those games, how many of those can we play in a year? Two or three if were lucky, but the other games are just, you know games at the select level…

To answer your question though we’ve proved and I say over and over, American players have the talent, conditions, attitude, mentality, everything to get to the next level and put this country to the next next next level and compete with the big guys. What we need is to give our youth meaningful games. Monterrey, Chelsea they’re all the time playing big games. They play the FA Cup, playing in Europe in front of media, television , and fans. Monterrey guys are dying because they need to sign a contract tomorrow or that’s it. We are just there. But I’m very happy to participate in the Super Group, nothing has helped me more than these last two games.

What have you learned from the Super Group yourself as a coach?

I’ve learned that the young players are very very tender still and it’s easy to turn it on or turn it off. In games like this you have to be more active than usual…I didn’t used to talk much or coach much during the games but I saw in the last two games that they need me more and I learned that.